Sprained shoulder -pain spreading through arm and ribs
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I feel off my bike on wet leaves 5 days ago - hard, but my initial sense was that I'd not done any serious harm; however i barely slept the next night due to pain in my right shoulder and upper arm. i went to minor injuries the next day as i could barely lift my arm and they diagnosed a sprained rotator cuff and gave me some exercises to keep it moving.
Just to complicate things, two weeks earlier I'd come off avoiding a car which had pulled out in front of me, bruising my ribs on my left side. So I've been particularly struggling to find a comfortable sleeping position.
In the days since my second fall, the sharp pain from movement has been slowly easing and i can now lift my arm above 90 degrees, but the general "background" pain has been getting much worse and spreading. In the past 24 hours it's been almost unbearable, still radiating from the shoulder, but across the front of my ribs and under my armpit, so that they're now much more painful on the right than the earlier injury on my left; and also down beyond my elbow to the inside of my forearm, particularly about 2/3 between my elbow and wrist and along my thumb.
Is this normal? Is it just an extension of my shoulder injury or likely to be separate issues?
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jaycee1956 matt14241
Posted
i think after only five days it may be too early to tell if it is more than a superficial injury. I am on a similar position to you but quite a bit further along. in a nutshell I fell off the arm of a chair i was climbing on which was on decking when it slid away (too lazy to get a step ladder out) and in the process of grabbing hold of the fence I wrenched my shoulder/upper arm. Like you I could barely move my arm the next day. This was nine weeks ago. I am quite concerned as I had very similar pain three years ago with the other shoulder and it transpired that I had a torn rotator cuff and had open surgery which was a complete success.
i have an upcoming follow up appointment with a consultant following a recent ultrasound scan but the general consensus is that there is nothing seriously wrong as even though the pain has actually increased i have a good range of movement. This was the case last time and I actually had a full tear. also the tear did not show up on the ultrasound then either. I will be making these points at my appointment Therefore I would be inclined to say if your pain doesn't improve - and mine is horrific at times, especially at night - don't be fobbed off as I suffered for two years prior to surgery before, trying physio, acupuncture, massage and just about everything else . It really messes with your quality of life Hopefully yours may be minor and start improving soon but if not, make sure you pursue a solution sooner rather than later